2 July 2007

County Durham Trial for New Recruitment Agency

A pioneering new social enterprise is to help smaller businesses in County Durham to find and keep new staff – by targeting people who find it most difficult to get work.

Regional development agency One NorthEast has approved plans for the County Durham Economic Partnership to allocate £850,000 for the trial of a new type of recruitment agency.

On the one hand, it will source vacancies with smaller firms in County Durham, helping employers to understand and overcome any issues they may have in taking on new staff.

On the other hand, the agency will offer training and support for people who face the toughest challenges in getting into a job – such as older people who may not have up to date skills, carers and younger people who have never worked – specifically so that they can take up opportunities with smaller businesses in the area.

Kate Welch from Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust which will lead the trial said: “We are delighted to be able to launch People Acumen as an additional service to employers to meet their recruitment needs.”

One North East’s Economic Inclusion manager, Robin Beveridge, said: “The region’s aim is to have about another 80,000 people in our workforce employed by 2016, because increasing employment levels is the only way for the North East to really see long-term economic growth. This is a chance to explore ways of combining the opportunities offered by County Durham’s smaller enterprises, with the ongoing task of enabling more people to move into sustainable jobs – particularly when they have been out of work for a long time.”

It is hoped the trial will help 500 people into work, and it will link closely with other agencies such as Jobcentre Plus and Business Link North East, in both making and taking referrals.

However, this project is different in that it will focus specifically on smaller employers and the potential opportunities available for:

• People who’ve been out of work for more than 6 months 
• People on ‘inactive’ benefits such as income support or sickness-related benefits
• Younger people who have left care homes in the last 3 years
• People who have worked in industries in decline whose skills may not suit the current employment market
• People with a broken employment history (more than 4 employers in the last 12 months)
• People who have had less than 13 weeks work in the past 12 months
• Clients who have not been registered with private sector employment agencies, or those who have been unable or unwilling to be placed within 6 weeks of registering with agencies

The agency will employ 11 staff and are planning to have bases in Bishop Auckland, Chester-Le-Street and Seaham.